Eight Very Bad Nights: A Collection of Hanukkah Noir - by Tod Goldberg (Hardcover)

About the Book

"Curated by New York Times bestselling author Tod Goldberg, this collection of twelve delightful and twisted Hanukkah capers will entertain you through all eight nights of the Festival of Lights. This captivating collection, which features bestselling and award-winning authors, contains laughs aplenty, the most hardboiled of Hanukkah noir, and poignant reminders of the meaning of the Festival of Lights. Includes stories by David L. Ulin, Ivy Pochoda, James D.F. Hannah, Lee Goldberg, Nikki Dolson, J.R. Angelella, Liska Jacobs, Gabino Iglesias, Stefanie Leder, and Jim Ruland, plus a foreword and story by Tod Goldberg"--

Book Synopsis

The perfect holiday gift for the crime fiction lover in your life!

Curated by New York Times bestselling author Tod Goldberg, this collection of eleven delightful and twisted Hanukkah capers will entertain you through all eight nights of the Festival of Lights.

In Stefanie Leder's "Not a Dinner Party Person"--finalist for the ITW Thriller Award for Best Short Story--an unstable pharmaceutical rep tries not to kill anyone at her family dinner on the last night of Hanukkah; in Ivy Pochoda's "Johnny Christmas," a taciturn Gulf War vet commissions a tattoo from a man he knew from his prison days, a man not named Christmas but Goldfarb; in David L. Ulin's "Shamash," it's the last night of Hanukkah, and a live-at-home adult son considers doing something drastic to get out of his elderly father's Upper West Side apartment; in James D.F. Hannah's "Twenty Centuries," a pair of detectives solve a curiously unprompted murder during the holiday season.

This captivating collection contains old-school slapstick comedy, hardboiled noir, gritty procedurals, and poignant reminders of the meaning of Hanukkah, offering something for almost every reader willing to take the journey through these twisted tales.

With stories by: Ivy Pochoda, David L. Ulin, James D.F. Hannah, Lee Goldberg, Nikki Dolson, J.R. Angelella, Liska Jacobs, Gabino Iglesias, Stefanie Leder, and Jim Ruland, plus a foreword and story by Tod Goldberg.

Review Quotes

Praise for Eight Very Bad Nights

Nominated for the Anthony Award for Best Anthology
Nominated for the Anthony Award for Best Short Story ("Twenty Centuries")
Finalist for the ITW Thriller Award for Best Short Story ("Not a Dinner Party Person")
A South Florida Sun Sentinel Best Mystery Fiction Book of 2024

"An engaging Hanukkah anthology that scrambles the holiday's traditions into eight so-bad-they're-good nights."
--Paula Woods, Los Angeles Times

"Even the weirdest narratives retain a certain here's-grit-in-your-eye homage to the noir genre, in which tough exteriors can conceal hearts of gold. But just as often, tough exteriors belong to hardened criminals, and figuring out who is who will keep you up reading late by your Menorah lights."
--Oprah Daily

"Edited by Tod Goldberg, this collection of 11 short stories from Goldberg and 10 other writers showcases plots, protagonists, and tones that vary wildly, which is another way of saying there's something for everyone."
--Boston Globe

"Right away, you know there will be blood . . . but humor, too. Would it kill you to bring a little something to gnosh on while we figure out who dunnit?"
--Parade

"Tod Gold­berg has put togeth­er a won­der­ful book that scratch­es an itch many read­ers might not know that they had. Com­posed of eleven sto­ries writ­ten by heavy­weights in the crime fic­tion genre -- includ­ing Ivy Pocho­da, Lee Gold­berg, and Tod Gold­berg him­self--Eight Very Bad Nights is a thrilling col­lec­tion that touch­es on the breadth of what noir can offer."
--Jewish Book Council

"These are stories about loyalty, such as Ivy Pochoda's 'Johnny Christmas;' responsibilities, such as David L. Ulin's 'Shamash;' family issues, such as James D.F. Hannah's 'Twenty Centuries' and Stefanie Leder's 'Not a Dinner Party Person, ' with its gleefully sociopathic pharmaceutical sales rep who really doesn't want to see her family in their Florida trailer park . . . While eight stories would be in keeping with Hanukkah's legend, readers will be grateful for the extra stories as each is a winner. Savor these dark, yet energetic stories as you light the menorah."
--South Florida Sun Sentinel

"Goldberg is one of the best (and funniest) crime writers working today . . . [The] contributors are likely to serve up thrills alongside your latkes."
--Orange County Register

"A welcome departure from the usual holiday fare."
--The Irish Times

"The Festival of Lights has never been so dark."
--Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine

"Eight Very Bad Nights is guaranteed to entertain and amuse readers of mysteries and crime fiction. Pass the latkes, please."
--BookTrib

"Fortunately, unlike your cousin's famous and always mushy kugel recipe, this book's tasty enough to keep reheating--that is, re-reading."
--New York Journal of Books

"With their dark hearts and memorable antiheroes, these stories make an entertaining complement to Soho Crime's Christmas anthology, The Usual Santas."
--Publishers Weekly

"Out-fiddles Fiddler on the Roof! Should be made into a musical."
--Lee Goldberg, #1 New York Times bestselling author

"Get down with the Chosen People before we get down with you."
--Ivy Pochoda, Los Angeles Times Book Prize-winning author

"Goldberg has my address. What was I supposed to do?"
--Gabino Iglesias, Bram Stoker Award-winning author

"Eight Very Bad Nights . . . still better than actually spending Hanukkah with your family."
--Stefanie Leder

"Unputdownable, another adjective, one more--a verb. And some nouns."
--Liska Jacobs

"Wait, wait, wait! My story is still in this book?"
--J.R. Angelella

About the Author

Tod Goldberg is the New York Times bestselling author of over a dozen books, including the award-winning Gangsterland trilogy and Living Dead Girl, a finalist for the Los Angeles Times Book Prize. His short fiction has been published widely, including in Best American Mystery & Suspense, and his nonfiction appears regularly in the Los Angeles Times, USA Today, and Alta, and has been anthologized in Best American Essays. He lives near Palm Springs, CA, where he founded and directs the Low-Residency MFA in Creative Writing & Writing for the Performing Arts at UC Riverside.